Indiana Eugenics

Indiana Eugenics

Indiana was the first government in the world to pass a eugenic sterilization law. The state sterilized 2,500 people from 1907-to-1974. Indiana apologized for implementing the program earlier this year, on the 100th anniversary of its inception. A five-part news series on history of Eugenics in Indiana.

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Indiana Eugenics, Part 1: The Eugenics Movement
Sep 25, 2007

Indiana Eugenics, Part 1: The Eugenics Movement

Eugenics supporters believed they could improve society with sterilization and other progressive measures. Indiana enacted the first eugenic sterilization law in 1907.

Indiana Eugenics, Part 2: Legalization
Sep 25, 2007

Indiana Eugenics, Part 2: Legalization

In the second installment of the five part series WFYI's Mary Hartnett explores how the state created it's sterilization program and the Supreme Court case that made sterilization legal.

Indiana Eugenics, Part 3: The Process
Sep 25, 2007

Indiana Eugenics, Part 3: The Process

In part three of the series, a look at how the process worked and why the program finally ended.

Indiana Eugenics, Part 4: Speaking Up
Sep 25, 2007

Indiana Eugenics, Part 4: Speaking Up

Indiana enforced a eugenic law that allowed institutions to sterilize the "mentally defective" until 1974. One woman sterilized by court order in 1971 is speaking up and telling her story.

Indiana Eugenics, Part 5: A New Kind Of Eugenics?
Sep 25, 2007

Indiana Eugenics, Part 5: A New Kind Of Eugenics?

These days, a lot ethicists, scientists and sociologists say we are in a new eugenics era. In the final installment of the series, Mary Hartnett reports on how in-vitro fertilization and other assisted reproductive technologies may be a new kind of eugenics.

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